Where Is Art?

“In 2011, we learned that Amtrak was beginning to paint over some of the large murals that Chris Pape, AKA Freedom, had painted in the 1980s and ’90s over a 10-block span of tunnel under Riverside Park.

Freedom’s works included tributes to Michelangelo and Goya, but also reflected his experiences as a graffiti writer and the time he spent with the homeless people living in the tunnel. The murals, visible through gratings on the street, gained notoriety and the tunnel eventually became known as the Freedom Tunnel.

We asked Freedom to revisit the tunnel with us, hoping we would still find some of his works intact before it was too late. This is what we saw.”